Despite the dynamic growth of its economy over the last
20 years, China still has a long way to go to catch up with Japan. In
commercial and technological terms, Japan is still the dominant economy in
East Asia and is still the leading source of product, production and
management innovations in the region, especially in the automotive and
electronic industries. However, China is closing the gap year by year. The
development of bilateral foreign trade, the increase of Japanese FDI and ODA
towards China, and intensified financial and technical co-operation
illustrate the considerable potential for mutually profitable business. The
Chinese market is opening up and Chinese products are increasingly gaining
competitiveness in world markets, threatening the incumbent Japanese firms.
Japanese and Chinese companies face each other across a changing competitive
environment, which is posing new challenges to corporate and business
strategies. Within the context of these developments this book looks from
different perspectives at how Japanese companies are reacting to the
challenges and opportunities offered by China.

Table of Contents

Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit: Foreword · René Haak and
Hanns Günther Hilpert: Introduction · Jörg Raupach-Sumiya:Chinese Firms as
Emerging Competitors of Japanese Firms · Shigeki Tejima: Japan’s
Manufacturing FDI in China – Its Characteristics in Comparison · Hanns
Günther Hilpert: Sôgô Shôsha Quo Vadis? The Strategies of the Japanese
General Trading Houses in the Chinese Market · Shôichi Itô: Human Resource
Management in China · Douglas B. Fuller: Playing the China Card: The China
Strategy of the Taiwanese Electronics Industry and the Japanese Response up
to 2000 · Christian Hirt and Ursula Schneider: Risk and Motivation in
Sino-Austrian Joint-Ventures in China · René Haak: Japanese-German Business
Collaboration in Third Markets – The Case of China · Harald Dolles and
Niklas Wilkin: The Trust Factor in Chinese-German Joint Ventures:
Implications for Japanese Co-operative Ventures in China